The Power Connect – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The Air BnB of EV Charging… If that’s not an audacious enough goal, then Pieter Waller wouldn’t be here on the latest episode of The Power Connect. We caught up with the Dutch Entrepreneur and Founder of Chargetrip, a range prediction and EV routing platform that has dominated Europe’s EV scene and is poised to do the same here in the United States.

Waller, who ran a consulting firm and had started several tech and online businesses prior to Chargetrip, was at the EV Charging Summit and Expo last week in Las Vegas as he and his team, including Ms. Cecile Post, who helped make this podcast possible, are taking Chargetrip international.

In this episode, Waller details the conversation of when his close friend told him why he wouldn’t take his EV on long-distance trips - and the two knew they needed to provide a solution. Thus the AirBnB of EV charging was born. From there, Waller tells us how the business came together, why it was important to be ‘more than an app,’ fearing they were ‘too late’ to the EV charging game and then realizing after their network crashed early in the process that they were on to something.

Finally, and perhaps most intriguing, is when Waller recognized the Fleet application for Chargetrip during a trip to Long Beach, California last year. While the consumer side of Chargetrip is growing, it’s the Fleet side that may be the true game changer in all of it.

For more on Pieter Waller and Chargetrip.

With some of the most iconic shopping centers under its belt, Simon Property Group has staked its claim as one of the premier shopping destinations in the United States thanks to ‘billions of dollars’ spent upgrading and enhancing the shopping experience in recent years. For Daniel Segal, VP Of Business Development at Simon Property Group, that now includes adding EV Charging to that mix and across their expansive real estate holdings. Segal details some of the players they’ve teamed up with including Tesla, Rivian, EVGo and Electrify America as part of their EV Charging partnerships. He also explains why making Simon locations a trusted and safe destination spot for consumers is very important as well. Finally, he shares what feedback he’s received from the chargers Simon has already installed and he gives us a glimpse into his panel, ‘Navigating the complexities of the Next Value Real Estate Asset’ on Friday.

For more on Daniel Segal and EV Charging Summit and Expo — and if you haven’t purchased a ticket yet — you’ll have to wait til next year - as this year’s event is officially sold out. However it will be available online later this year.

The Bedding and Sleepwear industry will never be the same. Climate Tech and sustainability is invading the textile space as well and entrepreneurs Phoebe Yu and Kat Dey have teamed up with a clean take on bamboo fabric that’s both good for the environment and remarkably comfortable with their Eco-friendly with an attitude bedding and sleepwear company - Ettitude. The two paired up nearly five years ago as Yu was looking for a US partner and met marketing guru and veteran startup founder Dey. The stars aligned - literally - and Yu, based in Australia, knew she found the right partner and the two got to work marketing their sustainably made bamboo sheets and sleepwear. Slowed but not stopped by Covid, they’re now looking to get into retailers after having gone direct-to-consumer and have an obscenely low return rate and have raised more than $1.7M to date. Phoebe breaks down what makes their fabric so special - and comfy - and what’s next for the burgeoning retailer.

Just in time for Christmas and the holidays - go to Ettitude and enter Promo Code ‘Power Connect’ for 10 percent off!

Learn more about Phoebe Yu and Kat Dey.

It’s the biggest company you’ve heard of but didn’t know they exactly how important they are — 30-year Schneider Veteran Brad Wills stopped by The Power Connect to break down the next great conquest for the Electric Giant. Wills, Schneider’s Director for Strategic Customers and Programs, talks about how the traditional B2B company is taking its expertise in that market and venturing into the B2C market and is primed to ‘explode.’ Working with the Top 100 Builders in the United States, Wills discusses how their newest features, including the Weiser Energy Solution, The Energy Center and the groundbreaking ‘Grid-to-Plug’ Feature, are following the latest trend of the home being the new Energy Hub, except Schneider wants to give the homeowner access and control to better energy efficiency, understanding and operation - all from an easy-to-use App. It’s an amazing development from a company that according to Wills, was not only named the most sustainable company in the world - they also claim 80 percent of all electrons in the US run through Schneider Equipment.

For more on Schneider Electric and Brad Wills.

While money was already flowing into the clean tech and renewable spaces even before the Government dumped another $394 Billy in tax breaks and new money — the stage is being set for who survives, who won’t make the cut and perhaps most importantly - who will stand out and lead in their sector. Well, if you’re taking bets - put some action on Electrada and their CEO Kevin Kushman. A 25-year veteran of the data, analytics and clean tech and DER space, Kushman is leading a savvy group of energy professionals who are using Charging-As-A-Service and have created their ‘Mobile Microutility’ model and are redefining how fleet electrification will be done by working with Commercial fleets, utilities and investing into the tech and infrastructure of how the charging gets done. It’s a brilliant strategy and after you listen to Kushman, it’ll make sense why he’s the man leading the way.

For more on Kevin Kushman and Electrada.

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While nicknames are the norm in Sports Radio - energy podcasting doesn’t quite lend itself to coining the movers and shakers in the energy space - but we did that with our guest today - the Godfather of the PPA in Europe - Dr. Harald Overholm - the found and CEO of Alight Energy. The leader in PPAs in Europe, Overholm tells us how he’s always been destined to make moves in clean energy, why the United States has the best entrepreneurs in the world, whether or not Alight will ever venture into the US market and how a chance comment in a Cambridge University cafeteria led to him connecting with Jigar Shah.

Learn more about Dr. Harald Overholm and Alight Energy.

There’s a reason former athletes often go on to great business careers thanks to years of training and mental preparation. Buck Martinez is no exception as the former college baseball player carved out a 35-year career as an executive with Florida Power & Light and helped usher in an era of renewables for the utility giant before they were widely accepted as they are now. Martinez dishes on what made the change at FPL so dramatic, how bringing in non-energy professionals helped change the culture and maintaining a singular focus brought huge results. But it might be his post FPL career that Buck is most proud of as the Founder of Student ACES, a high school program in South Florida that has grown from a classroom of students nearly a decade ago to now schools from all over the state and country are interested in what Buck and his team are doing to educate kids through empowerment, education, athletics and group training. It’s an incredible story of an old school athlete with a huge heart who is working to help kids navigate their own lives in a rapidly changing society.

For more on Buck Martinez and Student ACES.

We continue on with all things Neal Dikeman in the second part of our conversation with the long-time entrepreneur, CleanTech veteran and political upstart. You can catch Part One here. We may not see the political upstart aspect anytime soon, we’ll let Neal tell you about that, but in today’s episode he dives into the origins of CleanTech, why Silicon Valley and Houston need to communicate more and how the two very different ecosystems complement each other well. Neal gives us insight into what he tells startups, what he looks for in a pitch, why networking is always important and why you have to have your own to tap into - and finally - why the Inflation Reduction Act was not necessary.

Learn more about Neal here.

Check out our podcast partner Innowatts’ latest webinar - “Finding a Rhythm: Forecasting and Innovating in a Renewable Age.”

We celebrate the half century mark of the podcast with one of the best minds and pioneers of the Clean Tech space - the incomparable Mr. Neal Dikeman. One the most colorful characters in the energy space, Neal, a proud Texas A&M Aggie (haven’t met one that isn’t yet in fairness), shares how he couldn’t get a job out of college to how he found his way to Silicon Valley and now uses a lot of the same principles and processes today as he’s one part of the Clean Tech Venture Capital Firm - Energy Transition Ventures - alongside Craig Lawrence. In this first part of our two-part interview, the never dull Dikeman details his 270 day process when evaluating startups, why history matters, speed kills and living in a cul-de-sac— in the start-up world - can be a death knell. Whether you’re in energy, clean tech or have the greatest widget idea that no one’s ever heard of - today’s discussion with Neal is a Mini-Masterclass in Startup Founding 101.

For more on Neal Dikeman and Energy Transition Ventures.

And don’t miss the webinar ‘Finding a Rhythm - Forecasting and Innovating in a Renewable Age’ with podcast partner Innowatts - this Thursday, 1p EDT. Sign Up here Today.

Jaime Andres Diez is fighting an uphill battle but it wouldn’t be the first time he’s come from nowhere to posing a legitimate political challenge, albeit this time on a much larger stage. The 26-year-old Libertarian candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission seat is battling against Republican incumbent Wayne Christian and upstart Democratic candidate Luke Warford. Diez is not necessarily a political neophyte, having taken second in a school board race in his native Brownsville. However the stakes are much different at the state level, he’s running as a third party candidate and he’s lacking in one major category compared to the other two in the race — Money. Diez isn’t flinching and in today’s episode discusses why he chose the Libertarian party, or perhaps why they chose him, his disenchantment with political groups that claim to help Hispanic candidates, his platform for Railroad Commission, fixing the state’s renewable transmission problems and whether he has a viable shot at winning - or at the very least affecting the race.

Learn more about Jaime Andres Diez.